Why I invented the Package Guard…Where’s my package?

The Package Guard has been my passion project for over a year. It all started when Patti, my wife, and I were expecting a delivery of coats for the homeless to our home in Seattle over the 2014 holiday season. We run a nonprofit, Survive the Streets, where we give out cold-weather gear to the homeless. When this particular package of coats was stolen from our front porch, I was pissed! I thought that there had to be an easy solution to make sure this didn’t happen again, but I couldn’t find anything reasonable. So I invented one and it’s live on Kickstarter right now.

In the beginning, I researched package theft crime and what I found was appalling:

First off, about half of us have had a package stolen (we did a survey on Nextdoor and found this out) and, second, Amazon Prime has 54 Million US members. (Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, LLC). So that means that just for Amazon Prime members alone, there’s 27 Million packages stolen in the US since Amazon Prime started. That does not take into account other online retail giants like Overstock.com, Target, Wayfair.com, etc. So these Porch Pirates are an extreme epidemic and need to be stopped.

One reason this crime is such an epidemic is because stealing a package is like taking candy from a baby. The delivery companies like UPS and FedEx only operate on an 8am – 8pm Monday – Friday delivery zone which is when everyone else is working!! So of course no one is looking out for Porch Pirates!! There’s usually no safeguards, no one around and no one watching so the odds of getting caught are pretty slim.

More and more people are ordering higher-priced items online and having them delivered to their unsecured front door so often the crime can be considered grand theft and is a felony, but that doesn’t deter anyone to stop stealing your packages.
When I was gearing up to launch Package Guard, I asked folks to share their package theft stories and a few of them talked about classic music records stolen (makes sense, they are in a box that basically screams, “There’s a pretty sweet record album in here!”), which is terrible for the collector of limited editions, but what about a 12 year-old’s birthday present and brand new computers and furniture and even jewelry?

We all know “porch piracy is a thing” so people do not want valuables sitting out in their front stoops unattended anymore. They don’t trust it. Even in the safest of neighborhoods.

How do we deal with this problem today?

Requiring a signature but then driving to the FedEx / UPS store on our precious time off to wait in line FOREVER.

Pay a drop store a monthly fee but still have to drive there and wait in line on your time off?

Put a lock box on your front porch?

Deliver them to your office?

Work from home on days your are going to get that important package?

Record all passer bys with your home security camera and hoping that the police and catch a criminal if a crime is committed? There isn’t anything that is inexpensive and easy.

Aha Grasshopper….

That’s where the Package Guard comes in. It’s the easiest option on the market right now and is super simple to use and crazy fast to set up. First, you can order your Package Guard for 40% off right now via our Kickstarter campaign. Once the device arrives, just follow these steps;

Install four AA batteries
Using your computer download a small app and connect to the Package Guard
Input your email, phone number and home wifi connection settings
Connect the Package Guard to your home wifi network
Place on your porch and fasten it down with screw or other provided fastening methods.. that’s it…. you are ready to get your packages.

If you’re like some of our other customers, you may be thinking, “What if the thief takes the package and the device.” It’s a good question, but extremely unlikely. First off you can secure the device to your hard surface so it can’t be moved without some extra tools and effort. Also, even the slightest reduction in pressure will trigger the alarm so even if you didn’t have your device secured to the floor, it would be very difficult to grip the device and the package(s) at the same time. Almost impossible.

Is the device waterproof? Yes it is a sealed device so water will not penetrate the inside of the device.
What happens if more than one box is stacked and you only take the top one off? The alarm will sound since the weight was reduced.

We had over 200 backers on Kickstarter as of March 11. We’re selling the device for 40% off for a limited time. Here’s that link again and here is an easy share link if you feel so inclined to help.

What can I expect from PG in the future?
This is the first iteration of the Package Guard. We will be adding product updates as the device evolves. These updates include home security integrations so you can snap a picture with your home surveillance camera if the device is activated. And because the device is wifi enabled, there’s no limit to the features and benefits we can include in the app.